Vehicles are equipped with a variety of closure panel, such as a lift gate, which is driven between an open position (position 2) and a closed position (position 1) using an electric drive system. Vehicle closure panels can employ struts to assist the vehicle operator to open the closure panel, close the closure panel, and help maintain the closure panel in the open position or in an intermediate hold position (third position hold). Typically, the struts can be biased and can also be automatically controlled via an electric motor of the electric drive system. These struts are important in terms of both convenience and safety, because without them, vehicle operators can risk injury when entering or exiting the vehicle via the closure panel, e.g. when loading or unloading the vehicle.
Therefore, it is desirable to employ motorized struts with vehicle closure panels for ease of operation. However, available space is typically limited in the vicinity of strut mounting on the vehicle frame. Current motorized strut designs utilize motors and/or motor controllers mounted on the exterior of the strut housing which may increase or alter the strut outer envelope, which is problematic due to space constraints. Further, current designs can also position motor controllers remote from the electric motors (distanced from the strut housing) in order to address the space constraints. However, remote placement of the motor controllers is also problematic due to signal noise considerations for position/obstacle sensing during operation of the strut and motor electric drive system.